Imax B6s Are S**t: Change My Mind....

[Nick G]

My B6 stopped recognising 2S lipos which is a bugger 'cos all my airsoft ones are 7.4s ? Still works for the 11.1's I fly with , so I wonder if it could be a fault in the balance circuit that caused the issue the OP mentioned. I got myself an Overlander as a replacement which has been absolutely spot on so far. I do sit the batteries in an old cam cover when charging so they are on a non flammable base and I store them in an ammo box. It's very easy to take Lipo's for granted and forget just how volatile they are, gives me the willies when I see how some folk treat them at games !

 

[Speedbird_666]

I'm new to airsoft and like you said before about being new to the game and getting a charger for lipos I saw most people always mentioning the B6

I bought the IMAX B6 off hobbyking uk version and checked the hologram which come back all good. So am I assuming that hologram is correct? As it directs me to the website to say its genuine.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6ac-v2-professional-balance-charger-discharger-uk-plug.html?___store=en_us

HobbyKing (confusingly) sell both the genuine and knock-off versions. The knock-offs will be marked as 'copy' on their website, with the SkyRC logo removed and considerably cheaper.

If yours is from Hobbyking, marked SkyRC, ordered from an SKU that's for the non-copy version and with a SkyRC hologram, I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine, particularly if it's the V2.

My B6 stopped recognising 2S lipos which is a bugger 'cos all my airsoft ones are 7.4s ? Still works for the 11.1's I fly with , so I wonder if it could be a fault in the balance circuit that caused the issue the OP mentioned. I got myself an Overlander as a replacement which has been absolutely spot on so far. I do sit the batteries in an old cam cover when charging so they are on a non flammable base and I store them in an ammo box. It's very easy to take Lipo's for granted and forget just how volatile they are, gives me the willies when I see how some folk treat them at games !

Before the Imax B6 was readily available in the UK, J Perkins distribution imported and marketed them as the 'JP EnErG Pro LiPro Plus 5' which I had for a year or so - back in 2008 (hence my 'old tech' comments). Mine stopped recognising 3S LiPos - with balance connection errors. I binned it. Most Overlander stuff is rebranded SkyRC stuff - which is no bad thing.

 

[FreeFrag.UK]

In the interest of clarity and providing full disclosure, it might be worth editing your original post with a few alternative chargers. It may also be worth listing a few reputable UK sources. Admittedly the final stop ends with the buyer taking responsibility but it might be worth considering disclosing the previously mentioned information in your original post at the end.

Overall a very interesting story and it sounds like it could have been a lot worse given the severity of what happened.

I'd also like to echo @Rogerborg's sentiment of one catastrophic failure report being more than enough to warrant recommending (and seeking) better alternatives.

@rocketdogbert - Admittedly I'd be sorely tempted to go to GBBR's but part of me can't imagine parting with what I currently have and I imagine the return would be dreadful. Especially given the current circumstances faced by the airsoft community. Plus GHK seem to cost an arm, a leg and whatever else a retailer can get their hands on here in the UK, especially with mag prices.

 

[PureSilver]

however at the risk of sounding too contrary we are talking about a sample size of 1 catastrophic failure, and ultimately any device regardless of quality can fail.

I agree completely with this. There must be tens if not hundreds of thousands of B6s out there; it is one of the most common hobby battery chargers. The law of averages demands that eventually at least one (even one of the real ones) is going to go up in smoke and take someone’s garage with it.

With such a small sample size we don’t know whether the charger or the battery caused the fire; even the victim isn’t entirely sure. If a battery blew up on me I would always assume I had mis-set the charger or let a cell drop into DDS, both factors that are known to cause charging fires, rather than blaming the charger. I’m not saying the charger wasn’t at fault - see above comment on the law of averages - but LiPo charging fires almost always start in the comparatively volatile battery as a result of a mis-set charger, DDS or an internal short.

Bluntly the bloke’s garage burning down would have happened regardless of the cause of the battery igniting; once it was lit, it was going up - no charger could possibly make the situation worse at that point. This is a salutary lesson in exercising extreme caution when charging LiPos in close proximity to other extremely flammable things like model aircraft and associated materials.

While we can all take that valuable reminder to use fire-safe pouches and storage and supervise batteries while charging, I’d hesitate to get alarmist about this. In more than a decade of airsoft I’ve never seen a battery fire nor, to my knowledge, had one happen to any friend or teammate. Plenty of them have used B6AC-type chargers from various manufacturers for longer than I’ve been playing. While I have absolutely no doubt B6s fail, I see no evidence of any inherent flaw, or any reason to assume a different charger type would automatically be any more immune to manufacturing defects and/or neglectful or careless owners and/or damaged batteries than a genuine B6 V2 would be.

That doesn’t by any means mean a genuine B6AC V2 is the be-all and end-all of chargers, nor that we shouldn’t find a more modern replacement, but I wouldn’t start yelling through a megaphone in the safe zone about the risk the B6 in particular poses to everyone’s garages.

 

[Rogerborg]

In more than a decade of airsoft I’ve never seen a battery fire nor, to my knowledge, had one happen to any friend or teammate.

I've never been eaten by a lion, so...

I wouldn’t start yelling through a megaphone in the safe zone about the risk the B6 in particular poses to everyone’s garages.

This subject started with some clickbait and handbags, but I'm glad that it's been raised.  Aside, are we all aware of Cunningham's Law? "The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

That said, I do take all your points, and I am going to keep using my B6, and not yelling at anyone to bin theirs (unlike Nuprol nimh chargers, which do alarm me when folk ask "Is 12 hours too long to charge at 1C?").

That said, if the Glorious RC Master Race reckon the S65 is newer, better, by the looks of it no more expensive, and less prone to being knocked off, I know which one I'll be mentioning from now on.

That said, it's a tricky call to know whether to: 1) recommend what we've got, 2) recommend what we've been told about, or 3) say nothing and hope that someone who knows more might weigh in, which they might not.  We have to make our own decisions on that.

 

[Encore]

Any charger from ISDT is far better than anything I've seen on offer in the RC world and certainly anything from the Airsoft world. 

Key thing is a very easy to use UI. Don't have to worry if I hit the battery type button 3 times or 4 times etc. 

 

[Speedbird_666]

Any charger from ISDT is far better than anything I've seen on offer in the RC world and certainly anything from the Airsoft world

I would agree with that. I watch a lot of charger reviews by the likes of Joshua Bardwell and RCModelReviews. IDST seems to be well regarded. The colour screens and easy UI look nicer than traditional LCD displays, and the £20 Q6 nano unit from Banggood is incredible value. 200w is a bit overkill for Airsoft though.  
 

The only reason I haven’t mentioned their chargers is the fact they are DC only, which is fine for field charging, but obviously needs some kind of external power supply. I know a lot of guys that made their own by modding a cheap desktop PC PSU, but they are model makers, and used to getting ‘stuck in’ with DIY electronics (although admittedly adding a jumper wire and output connectors is fairly straight forward). A dedicated hobby PSU would add another £30-£50 to the overall cost.
 

For new Airsofters, or those less inclined to tinker, an AC unit makes more sense hence recommending the SkyRC S65, as it’s about the same cost as a genuine B6 but a better unit all round.  
 

I am toying with the idea of doing a tutorial on building a Power supply from a PC PSU and post it on here. It might come in handy for someone. 

 

 

[Sitting Duck]

No offence but he was "close by" - which we all have done

(nobody stands there for 30mins just watching it charge)

It "could" be the B6 itself or the PSU which "could" have been external or the internal version

Personally I recommend the external PSU & cheaper B6 without the int psu

At £60 I'll guess it was the B6-AC with int PSU, so yes it "could" be the B6 but at same time it "could" have been the int PSU part of it that blew causing the fire - but we may never know specifically where exactly what component failed to cause the rapid initial ignition

I don't trust many charger's PSU's or stuff like that, there is only about 1 big capacitor in the B6 but more stuff in a PSU going from 240v down to 12~18v to go boom

Sorry for the poor bloke, but really think it might have been the 240v AC to DC PSU where a failure occurred & ignited

than the actual B6's main circuitry itself

(Yes the B6 could have ignited, but I tend to think it happened on the step down side most likely than on the main B6 pcb)

 

[Shamal]

I've never been eaten by a lion, so...

This subject started with some clickbait and handbags, but I'm glad that it's been raised.  Aside, are we all aware of Cunningham's Law? "The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

That said, I do take all your points, and I am going to keep using my B6, and not yelling at anyone to bin theirs (unlike Nuprol nimh chargers, which do alarm me when folk ask "Is 12 hours too long to charge at 1C?").

That said, if the Glorious RC Master Race reckon the S65 is newer, better, by the looks of it no more expensive, and less prone to being knocked off, I know which one I'll be mentioning from now on.

That said, it's a tricky call to know whether to: 1) recommend what we've got, 2) recommend what we've been told about, or 3) say nothing and hope that someone who knows more might weigh in, which they might not.  We have to make our own decisions on that.

How do you know that the answer you post is wrong if you dont already know the correct answer?and if someone tells you the correct answer how do you know that  is right.

Confused.com

Regards

 

[Rogerborg]

How do you know that the answer you post is wrong if you dont already know the correct answer?

That's the beauty of Cunningham's Law, it doesn't matter if you post the wrong answer accidentally or deliberately, you'll generate the same righteous rage either way.

and if someone tells you the correct answer how do you know that  is right.

Volume, persistence and citations in about that order - it's the way that Wikipedia works.

 

[Iceni]

1 lipo 2S 20C 2200mAHrs is every kept near my charging area and is always charged at no more than 1.5Amps

Well that's a crock of shit to begin with. The B6 would default to a 1C charge of 2.2 amps. So in order to get 1.5 amps the end user has taken over from the B6 defaults.

Lets assume Jonny Briggs is a retard, and set it to 1.5A, what else did they change. Lipo to Nimh mode? Lipo to LIFE? 1S? 3S? Who knows!

I'm thinking Little Jonny Bumblefuck has drained the lipo to shit, Taken it well under the safe discharge level. - This won't cause a fire.
Then set the charger to NIMH mode to try save the battery rather than accept that the B6 has told him to fuck right off. - This will cause a fire.

Lipo's that have gone under the safe discharge point become chemically unstable. Provided you don't charge them they should stay inert. Charging them back up from this state is stupidly dangerous. It doesn't matter if the battery looks perfect, and you think well it's only a 0.3v more to get back to a level where the charger will say yes to charging.... Ignoring the initial safety warning  - Spooning the bastard - then attempting to lie about the charger rather than admit you fucked up is priceless.

 

 

[Rogerborg]

That's... quite some assumption.

 

[Sitting Duck]

As I was saying or suggesting...

@ £60 I'm inclined to think it might have been the B6-AC version & int psu blew up

THAT is where you got a whopping 240v being taken down to 12~18v so that is where the power/risk/heat is likely to be

I said there was only one capacitor - my bad one big one slightly smaller capacitors in the B6 itself

I have suggested the B6 with an old laptop psu (that you know is reliable, non buzzy, not too hot etc...)

Oh and there are number of other chargers that "look" to be of the same style/format at B6

(I often wonder if they are nigh on just a reshelled B6 in a fancier modern case)

I am still fairly confident the psu is where the failure or initial failure took place (for whatever reason)

 

[Iceni]

That's... quite some assumption.

It's not for RC planes. Unlike airsoft you have a constant amp draw in flight, And the amp draw is higher than airsoft as well.

Even a small plane isn't going to get a long flight time. 15 minutes would be decent.

The ESC should drop the power when you come close to 3.3v but it won't stop the flight, You have to land it and stop drawing power.

That's also assuming it's not an older plane the guy was using converted without a modern ESC. In that situation you have to time your batteries and work out your flight times. It's very easy to cock up.

Voltage is also an issue, Airsoft uses max voltage for ROF and trigger response - More is better. RC planes use it for prop speed, and a plane that flies well isn't going to want anywhere near full voltage unless you are stunt flying or climbing hard. So the voltage drop we see in airsoft may not be as pronounced to an RC plane user without a modern ESC controller.

I'm more than willing to believe the RC user fucked up, and then made up a story about the charger for the insurance, because if the insurance thought it was caused by neglect/ignoring safety systems then the chance of a payout diminishes.


Also look at the internals of the B6 and B6AC. There are parts in there that could cause a fire, All electrical devices can. There is however no component that would cause a spontaneous eruption of flame. Electrolytic capacitors tend to pop or explode, but it's mostly just smoke and gas pressure as the doping boils off the plates - They do make black marks but again it's mostly soot. If there were tantium caps in there then I would perhaps look at those, but there are none. Any transformers for the AC variant could be a source of fire, but again it would be through heat and the fire would start small and spread rather than explode - and there would have definitely been enough time to grab the fire extinguisher.

The only part of the Equation that can cause a spontaneous gout of flame is the battery. Externally it was good, The charger was set to 1.5A, so there is only one other explanation for the fire - human error.

 

I saw white smoke, then flame and the next instant big flames

White smoke, flame then a gout of flame.... = Battery fire.

Also
 

Batteries are put into a heavy highly fired pot and lid to contain the battery

So the battery and charger are isolated from each other. For the fire to come from outside of the pot and ignite the battery - that fire would have had to have been established and fucking hot.


The tales of the charger causing the issue just don't add up. The email author is deep in his own lies and hasn't even considered how feasible they actually are.